Pennsylvania's gaming law does not spell out the next step, said Doug Sherman, the board's chief counsel.
An appeal, he said, would be handled by Commonwealth Court. The specter of litigation with Foxwoods could "freeze" that license, he added. "We have to wait and see."
State Rep. Curt Schroder of Exton, the ranking Republican on the House Gaming Oversight Committee, said the license should be auctioned off across the state, not just to bidders in Philadelphia. He is preparing legislation to amend the gaming law to allow just that.
"This is our one and only opportunity to do this in a way it should have been done in the first place," Schroder said.
The gaming board rejected the Foxwoods group's latest attempt to salvage the project - this one involving partnering with Harrah's Entertainment Inc., of Las Vegas, to finance and operate a gaming hall in South Philadelphia.
F. Warren Jacoby, a lawyer representing Foxwoods, said the board had acted "arbitrarily." He said he was "shocked" by the vote and did not know yet if the partners would appeal the board's decision.
William Downey, an attorney for Harrah's, now doing business as Caesars Entertainment Corp., hurried from the hearing at the Pennsylvania State Museum without saying a word.
According to sources, the Foxwoods group - Philadelphia Entertainment & Development Partners L.P. (PEDP) - already had sunk $182 million into the venture.
That sum included a $30 million contribution from the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, which owns the Foxwoods megacasino in Connecticut, and a $60 million loan from Citizens Bank. In addition, the local investors bought the South Philadelphia property for $67 million, issuing an I.O.U. to a Harrah's affiliate that had owned the 16-acre waterfront site.
